The 180,000 euro election campaign

(JB) An immigrant workers group has lambasted a campaign aimed at getting non-national residents to vote and is calling for a dedicated task force to manage future efforts.

Poor coordination, minimal communication and a lack of transparency in how funds are administered are among the criticisms made by the Association de Soutien pour Travailleurs Immigrés (ASTI) towards the communal election registration campaign.

Under Luxembourg law, non-national residents who have been living in Luxembourg for five or more years are eligible to vote in this year's communal elections provided they register before July 14.

The government earmarked some 180,000 euros to support a cross-charity campaign it hoped would encourage non-national residents to participate in this October's communal elections.

With just four days remaining before the deadline, ASTI raised a number of concerns about the effectiveness of the campaign.

ASTI said that the overseeing committee, set up by government body OLAI, had been slow with communications, which meant that few people were made aware of the official signing up day on June 18.

Apparently, the committee of 20 people rarely all met together, furthermore, the website “je peux voter” was not regularly kept up-to-date.

ASTI, which benefited from funding to support an awareness bus and public exhibition, also expressed concern about how funds were administered, requesting transparency in the criteria used.

OLAI also came under criticism for introducing online registration too late, a delay which may have lost potential voters.

Regarding the politicians, ASTI criticised their lack of coordination and the fact that some candidates complained about political apathy among the non-Luxembourg national population without seeking to understand the causes.

Lastly, it laid the blame at some of the communes for not better coordinating efforts and not specifically targeting residents which were eligible to sign up.

Franco Avena, ASTI executive committee member, said: “We've reported our findings to the overseeing committee. They've received all our information but I think that they have been overwhelmed. That is why we are proposing a task force. The committee has a lot of tasks, too many tasks for them to be effective. We would like a task force which will drive the campaign and ensure that all the organisations involved work together.”

This Thursday is the last day that non-national residents who are eligible to vote can register if they wish to take part in the communal elections this October.

ASTI was pessimistic that the campaign would see any substantial growth in registrations.

ASTI president Laura Zuccoli said: “To be realistic, I don't think that the signing-up campaign will have been a success. I think that some people will have signed-up but it won't be the numbers we hoped for. This is because of the reasons we mentioned: the lack of coordination or projects and communication between politicians, awareness groups and communes.”